Buffy Season Six...better than I remembered.

[DigificWriter]

There's a lot of new ground to cover, so I'm gonna focus on two things: Willow's relationship with Kennedy, and the issue of whether or not the writers changed the direction of her character arc in S6 with regards to how/why she went evil.

Willow's relationship with Kennedy is yet another example from the Buffyverse of the old adage 'opposites attract'. Yes, they are very different personality-wise, and Kennedy is completely different from any of Willow's previous partners (male or female), and therefore it might be easy to find fault with the relationship, but I personally think that one of the reasons that it works is that we as an audience don't need to understand the whys behind it. Willow picked who she picked, and that's just the way it is. There's no questioning of the relationship the way there was with the W/T relationship at first, which is pretty cool, IMO.

Now, on to the subject of whether or not the writers changed the direction of their arc in making Willow go bad. I've always believed - and have found quite a bit of evidence to support said belief - that there was in fact no change in the 'Dark Willow' arc. It was always about addiction; what DID change was the way that Willow's addiction to magic manifested itself. Yes, it started out being about the power and Willow having the magic as a way to distinguish herself and deal with her deep-set self-esteem issues before becoming much more about the 'high', but even that aspect of the whole arc didn't come entirely out of nowhere (a frequent complaint I've heard) since there were already inferences about magic being used for drug-like purposes; we'd just never before actually seen it. I'd also like to point something else out: Willow getting hooked on the more drug-like aspects of magic is far from OOC, as it seems a lot of people seem to believe, since it is only the latest manifestation of her trying to use magic to deal with heartbreak.

 

[Forbin]

The thing about Xander leaving Anya at the altar that truly pissed me off is that it negated what I thought was Xander's greatest moment: His speech to Buffy on the night Riley left telling her she was an idiot to let him go, and the awesomely, beautifully romantic things he said to Anya when he got home from that.

This was not the same character who walked out on her later.

And - Faith had a last name?!? When did we ever hear that?

 

[DigificWriter]

And - Faith had a last name?!? When did we ever hear that?

It wasn't ever stated on-screen, but was later canonized and revealed in a RPG book(let). The publishers of the book asked Joss for a list of Slayers by name, and he came up with the last name LeHane on the spot for the character.

 

[Lindley]

Should have made it Winters. That would have been funny.

 

[exodus]

I enjoyed S6, too me it was another transitional period like S4 was.
Glory did what no other villain has done before, she made them run.
She made them feel no place was safe anymore.
The gang also had to deal with life after college and what life held for them as adults.
S6 once again was a season about making choices that would now affect them for the rest of their lives.
It was about adulthood.

 

[exodus]

The thing about Xander leaving Anya at the altar that truly pissed me off is that it negated what I thought was Xander's greatest moment: His speech to Buffy on the night Riley left telling her she was an idiot to let him go, and the awesomely, beautifully romantic things he said to Anya when he got home from that.

This was not the same character who walked out on her later.

Many people talk out of both sides of their mouth like Xander, that's why the divorce rate is so high. Take into account that Anya was the only woman that paid Xander enough attention and had sex with him. That's all they ever based their relationship on.

 

[Admiral Pike]

One more really stupid thing in S6 is how Buffy turned down working at the Magic Box, but she gladly agreed to getting stuck in a dead-end low-paid mcjob, flipping burgers and slaving away with a big fake smile on her face.

I mean, does anyone really think that the Doublemeat Palace has better pay and better working conditions than the Magic Box? Honestly? Or that they are more flexible and supporting in regards to her slaying? Really?

 

[exodus]

One more really stupid thing in S6 is how Buffy turned down working at the Magic Box, but she gladly agreed to getting stuck in a dead-end low-paid mcjob, flipping burgers and slaving away with a big fake smile on her face.

I mean, does anyone really think that the Doublemeat Palace has better pay and better working conditions than the Magic Box? Honestly? Or that they are more flexible and supporting in regards to her slaying? Really?

Yeah but how much revenue could a shop like the Magic Box be making compared to the Doublemeat? How could Giles afford to pay his rent?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I enjoyed the hell out of Season Six, same as the other seasons.

 

[Ayelbourne]

Me too. It's actually my favourite season because it is dark and deals with issues that everyone can relate to but doesn't want to

 

[Lonemagpie]

You think season 6 is bad? - I'm watching the season 7 set right now...

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Me too. It's actually my favourite season because it is dark and deals with issues that everyone can relate to but doesn't want to

Well, 'everyone' is a bit subjective... Just because it went to a very dark place and the heroes weren't very heroic doesn't mean it was more realistic or relatable to some of us. But then, Buffy was hardly the only series at the time (or since) to have fallen into the trap of Dark=character development=Good drama...

Personally, I find it sign of weak writing. Realism or even darkness aren't necessarily bad things to incorporate, but an incessant stream of bad events, worst case scenarios, and people making morally questionable decisions can be just as bad as 'boring invincible hero' syndrome, since it makes the story just as predictable and boring when you know exactly what they're going to choose, good or bad.

The problem most people have with the Dark Willow arc isn't that she went bad... on the contrary, most of us can get behind the whole control freak aspects of it, and the execution of the arc after Tara's death was pretty much what one would expect... That part wasn't the derailment, as some people want to think... The derailment was the whole Magic=Drug Addiction allegory they tried to set up, which was just... well, stupid. So stupid in fact, that in Season 7, they even tried to redact that with Giles saying in no questionable terms that 'magic is NOT addictive'... nice try.

It's one thing if she'd just gotten drunk with the power side of things and just got carried away. Sure, that's a form of addiction, too, but a psychological kind that anyone could do. If they'd gone with that angle, people wouldn't have been upset. The way Buffy tried to play it , however, was that magic as a physical addiction in the way that heroin addicts need their fix or they get sick... When she hit rock bottom, she wasn't getting off on the power or the effect, she was getting off on the magic itself, in the seedy dive with her 'dealer'.

THAT's the part that most people dislike (at least, I think so). Not that she turned into Darth Willow, but that she turned into a smack addict. I guess because this way they could use the addiction angle as an excuse, that she unwittingly set herself on this path by using dark magic to raise Buffy from the dead (after which, naturally, it's not really her fault), instead of making a series of conscious, intentional choices that would have led her into being deliberately evil, and far more responsible for what she did. To me, it would have been more compelling dramatically to have had her choose this path, instead of merely being a victim of messing with dark forces best left alone.

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

One more really stupid thing in S6 is how Buffy turned down working at the Magic Box, but she gladly agreed to getting stuck in a dead-end low-paid mcjob, flipping burgers and slaving away with a big fake smile on her face.

I mean, does anyone really think that the Doublemeat Palace has better pay and better working conditions than the Magic Box? Honestly? Or that they are more flexible and supporting in regards to her slaying? Really?

Yeah but how much revenue could a shop like the Magic Box be making compared to the Doublemeat? How could Giles afford to pay his rent?

Duh... Magic. This isn't Harry Potter... I'm sure magic can pay the bills just fine, when it has to, with no material consequences from a Ministry (which I believe doesn't exist here) or anything like that, and there's probably nothing stopping you from making money in a literal sense if you had to (as long as you were smart about i, anyway).

Besides, in the real world, yes, a shop like The Magic Box would probably be a niche store that made little revenue. In the Buffy-verse, it provided a valuable supply service for magic users and supernatural types, allowing access to arcana and magical items you can't just go to Sam's club to buy in bulk. And with Anya working there, I have a feeling that said items probably had a high markup... The girl loved money way too much to let this be a two-bit operation.

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Many people talk out of both sides of their mouth like Xander, that's why the divorce rate is so high. Take into account that Anya was the only woman that paid Xander enough attention and had sex with him. That's all they ever based their relationship on.

And if they'd gone with an angle like that, it might have been fine... But they didn't, and the episode makes that obvious. He bolted because the episode pounded into his head that he was just like his parents. However, he unilaterally decided to end things at the altar without discussing things with anyone. Sure, he was shaken by the whole demon encounter, but you think he'd have taken a moment to discuss his feelings with somebody (who would have put some sense into his head) instead of walking out on the wedding at the most unforgivable moment.

Again, this was another situation the writers decided to force the worst possible resolution to in order to draw out more angst on the characters, even when it didn't make sense to do so... Maybe they could have still called off the wedding, but he should have at least tried to talk to Anya about it first...

As for her being his 'only'. Again, that might have made sense, but that's not the angle they played. Afterward, he didn't let her go or anything... He left her alone after a while, but it was obvious the entire time that he only wanted her to come back to him, but she was still hurt (naturally). He never exactly went out to play the field again, though, or expressed any interest in doing so. As far as I know, he only had one (unenthusiastic) date with another person in S7, and didn't really talk to any other girls in a romantic capacity, even after the house was swarming with them when the Potentials showed up.

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Willow's relationship with Kennedy is yet another example from the Buffyverse of the old adage 'opposites attract'. Yes, they are very different personality-wise, and Kennedy is completely different from any of Willow's previous partners (male or female), and therefore it might be easy to find fault with the relationship, but I personally think that one of the reasons that it works is that we as an audience don't need to understand the whys behind it. Willow picked who she picked, and that's just the way it is. There's no questioning of the relationship the way there was with the W/T relationship at first, which is pretty cool, IMO.

What questioning was there of Willow/Tara? That relationship with quite natural, really, and I don't think anyone had a problem or qualm with it...

But that logic might work in Real Life, but not in drama... The audience is SUPPOSED to know why people do things and make certain choices... that's what it's for. Sure, the reasons don't have to be immediately apparent or explicitly said, but it does need to be there, at least in subtext... (Take Cordelia and Xander, by way of example... a couple that made no sense logically, but the subtext managed to sell it). Besides, even in real life, opposites have reasons for dating... 'Compatibility' isn't the same thing as 'Similarity', which is a mistake a lot of people make, I think.

In any case, Kennedy was a flat character... someone created for the express purpose of being Willow's new girlfriend (it didn't help that her personality was, as someone else mentioned, lifted wholesale from Faith... which only became more obvious and grating once Faith actually showed up). By and large, in storytelling, people tend to HATE those characters, when they stick around for more than an episode, especially if there's no attempt to define them apart from the relationship... It's a large part of the reason why Riley was such an unpopular character (along with wooden acting by Blucas)... Beyond being Buffy's love interest, he had nothing going for him, and no identity, other than as a faceless government shadow man. Tara succeeded because she became a character. She had a story, she had a past. Things happened to her that didn't have anything to do with Willow.

 

[Skywalker]

Almost done with S7 now (only have the final three episodes to go). I'm actually liking it a lot. Andrew no longer annoys me, which is a shock, because I really disliked him in Season Six. And the Potentials don't bother me at all; not even Kennedy, surprisingly. There hasn't been nearly enough Felicia Day, though.

My biggest gripe is that Buffy is way too preachy and holier-than-thou this season. I mean, she's always been that way, but it's like this year she turned it up to 11. I just watched "Empty Places," and damn, I loved that ending. It's about time the group stood up to her and told her that she was doing a piss-poor job of leading them. Of course, I'm sure in the next episode she's going to prove everyone wrong and they'll all be sorry they doubted the Great and Powerful Buffy.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like Buffy?

 

[RoJoHen]

One more really stupid thing in S6 is how Buffy turned down working at the Magic Box, but she gladly agreed to getting stuck in a dead-end low-paid mcjob, flipping burgers and slaving away with a big fake smile on her face.

I mean, does anyone really think that the Doublemeat Palace has better pay and better working conditions than the Magic Box? Honestly? Or that they are more flexible and supporting in regards to her slaying? Really?

Yeah but how much revenue could a shop like the Magic Box be making compared to the Doublemeat? How could Giles afford to pay his rent?

Duh... Magic. This isn't Harry Potter... I'm sure magic can pay the bills just fine, when it has to, with no material consequences from a Ministry (which I believe doesn't exist here) or anything like that, and there's probably nothing stopping you from making money in a literal sense if you had to (as long as you were smart about i, anyway).

Besides, in the real world, yes, a shop like The Magic Box would probably be a niche store that made little revenue. In the Buffy-verse, it provided a valuable supply service for magic users and supernatural types, allowing access to arcana and magical items you can't just go to Sam's club to buy in bulk. And with Anya working there, I have a feeling that said items probably had a high markup... The girl loved money way too much to let this be a two-bit operation.

And let's remember that The Magic Box is in Sunnydale. Even a lot of the normal, everyday people probably have their hand in some kind of magic (or at least have a passing familiarity with it). You'd have to be completely oblivious not to notice all the supernatural stuff that goes on in that town. I'm sure they have a decent clientele.

 

[Forbin]

Almost done with S7 now (only have the final three episodes to go). I'm actually liking it a lot. Andrew no longer annoys me, which is a shock, because I really disliked him in Season Six. And the Potentials don't bother me at all; not even Kennedy, surprisingly. There hasn't been nearly enough Felicia Day, though.

My biggest gripe is that Buffy is way too preachy and holier-than-thou this season. I mean, she's always been that way, but it's like this year she turned it up to 11. I just watched "Empty Places," and damn, I loved that ending. It's about time the group stood up to her and told her that she was doing a piss-poor job of leading them. Of course, I'm sure in the next episode she's going to prove everyone wrong and they'll all be sorry they doubted the Great and Powerful Buffy.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like Buffy?

Nothing irritated me more than that episode where she said to the potentials "Thus endeth the lesson." I wish the uber-vamp had gutted the self-righteous bitch!

 

[DigificWriter]

Almost done with S7 now (only have the final three episodes to go). I'm actually liking it a lot. Andrew no longer annoys me, which is a shock, because I really disliked him in Season Six. And the Potentials don't bother me at all; not even Kennedy, surprisingly. There hasn't been nearly enough Felicia Day, though.

My biggest gripe is that Buffy is way too preachy and holier-than-thou this season. I mean, she's always been that way, but it's like this year she turned it up to 11. I just watched "Empty Places," and damn, I loved that ending. It's about time the group stood up to her and told her that she was doing a piss-poor job of leading them. Of course, I'm sure in the next episode she's going to prove everyone wrong and they'll all be sorry they doubted the Great and Powerful Buffy.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like Buffy?

Looks like I'm still in the minority with my opinion of S7, but that's okay. I was initially totally against the direction that Joss and Co. took with S7, but after sitting down and watching many of the episodes, my opinion has softened somewhat, and I've come to the conclusion that the season, for me, suffers from the same things that many people say S4 suffers from; the season is full of great ideas that are poorly executed, and has some pacing issues as well. Things like Buffy's attitude, Willow's recovery, and the Potentials arc - to name a few - all had the potential (no pun intended) to be amazing, but because of the way they were paced and/or handled, they lose a lot of their oomph. The series finale is great, though, and does fix some of the problems and issues, but there's only so much you can do with one episode.

I do find it cool that you liked 'Empty Places' because I used to be in the minority there as well. A lot of fans didn't like that episode, mainly because of the group's reasoning for kicking Buffy out of HER OWN HOUSE, but I think that, although it wasn't handled as well as it could've been (see a pattern here?), it was effective for what it was.

 

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Almost done with S7 now (only have the final three episodes to go). I'm actually liking it a lot. Andrew no longer annoys me, which is a shock, because I really disliked him in Season Six. And the Potentials don't bother me at all; not even Kennedy, surprisingly. There hasn't been nearly enough Felicia Day, though.

My biggest gripe is that Buffy is way too preachy and holier-than-thou this season. I mean, she's always been that way, but it's like this year she turned it up to 11. I just watched "Empty Places," and damn, I loved that ending. It's about time the group stood up to her and told her that she was doing a piss-poor job of leading them. Of course, I'm sure in the next episode she's going to prove everyone wrong and they'll all be sorry they doubted the Great and Powerful Buffy.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like Buffy?

Looks like I'm still in the minority with my opinion of S7, but that's okay. I was initially totally against the direction that Joss and Co. took with S7, but after sitting down and watching many of the episodes, my opinion has softened somewhat, and I've come to the conclusion that the season, for me, suffers from the same things that many people say S4 suffers from; the season is full of great ideas that are poorly executed, and has some pacing issues as well. Things like Buffy's attitude, Willow's recovery, and the Potentials arc - to name a few - all had the potential (no pun intended) to be amazing, but because of the way they were paced and/or handled, they lose a lot of their oomph. The series finale is great, though, and does fix some of the problems and issues, but there's only so much you can do with one episode.

I do find it cool that you liked 'Empty Places' because I used to be in the minority there as well. A lot of fans didn't like that episode, mainly because of the group's reasoning for kicking Buffy out of HER OWN HOUSE, but I think that, although it wasn't handled as well as it could've been (see a pattern here?), it was effective for what it was.

Yeah... Personally, I'm not a fan of Season 7... mostly for just two reasons... One, they finally finished the job they'd been working on from Season 4 on Spike's total and complete emasculation (Thank God, Angel Season 5 managed to finally fix some of that). Secondly, as someone else mentioned, Buffy became seriously unsympathetic this season... which is quite a feat considering what the past two seasons put her through. It's as if after two seasons of getting the crap kicked out of her, she emerged a full blown Mary Sue who could do no wrong... even after getting kicked out of her own house (for shaky but still somewhat logical reasons), and generally being a jerk to everyone (not that they weren't asking for it, but still...).

The Potentials arc actually had some measure of promise, and the fate of the Watchers council... well, that was just a good way to kick off a final season... though they dragged out the question of Giles' loyalty a little too long, in my opinion. Didn't much care of Andrew getting such a quick place in the fold, after what he and his cronies put them through last season, but I can handle that... Buffy's preachiness and holier-than-thou schtick, though, got old, fast...

Of course, a lot of complaint got dumped on the incredible lameness of the final villain, in incorporeal chatterbox with an army of supervampires... who didn't even get truly defeated in the end... sorta anticlimactic, if you ask me...